Tuesday, December 15, 2009

My books of the year.

These are the not the best books of the year. These are my best books of the year; that is, the books I read and enjoyed the most. Some of them weren't published this year. Also, having a book out myself and reading wildly different reviews for it (sometimes you'd think people had actually read different books) I am fully aware of the subjectivity of reading. I'm not reviewing these books. I'm simply giving them a little bit of the praise they deserve, and pointing my readers in the direction of books they might themselves enjoy.

Here are my favourites, in no particular order:

The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy AdamsNovel About My Wife by Emily PerkinsThe Blue by Mary McCallumDead People's Music by Sarah LaingThe Girl on the Landing by Paul TordayRelief by Anna TaylorThe Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce by Paul TordayJasper Jones by Craig SilveyNorthanger Abbey by Jane AustenThe Rehearsal by Eleanor CattonThe Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

Magpie Hall by Rachael King (whoops, how did that get on there?)

If you are buying Christmas presents this year, please think about buying books. The above list is a good place to start.

13 comments:

I read Northanger Abbey for the first time this year and it is by far and away my favourite Austen novel now. I always love a strong recommendation and so I will check out the others on your list. Thanks for sharing, Rachael, and a merry Christmas to you and your family.

I love that the author of The Sound of Butterflies has The Behaviour of Moths as the top of her list! I love your loyalty to NZ writers, too, including me. This list is an insight into you as much as anything else - and of course Magpie Hall should be on there! I haven't yet thought about my 'best of' - frankly, I'm surprised Xmas is nearly here.... Thanks for another year of your lovely blog, Rachael. X

Glad to be of service, ladies. Oh and if you're thinking of checking out the Tordays, I recommend The Girl on the Landing slightly more than the other. The I I of W has an unusual backwards structure that takes the wind out of its sails a little by the end. Still enjoyable though. Both have a disarmingly casual tone that masks something much more unsettling.

Mmm. Well my Christmas read didn't quite make it, serves me right for ordering over the Internet - though I only did so on about December 22nd, so my fault, not Arts Centre Bookshop which is a new online find I'm rather excited about:

Hi Mark, thank you for your order.We do not have a copy of this book [Magpie Hall] in stock,unfortunately we will not have a copy until the New Year.We have recorded your order and the book will be supplied as soon as possible,probably around the 10th of January.Yours sincerely,Darryl,Arts Centre Bookshop

Looks like Magpie has to wait to the New Year.

If we're doing book lists, the below is extracted from my reading log over the last ten years and are my books of the decade. I'm cutting and pasting from a Zoetrope post:

If I open my spreadsheet reading log (keep a film log also), filter to read since the 2000 year, then filter for novels published over the oughties, take out short short stories, then take the top ten scores (yes, I score them, I know, anal). That gives my personal list as follows:

Scoring 10 out of 10:

Thinks, by David LodgeThe Lovely Bones, by Alice SeboldThe Uncle's Story, by Witi IhimaeraBlindsight, by Maurice GeeSaturday, by Ian McEwan

Under my scoring system :) Sound of Butterflies made 8.4 (which is well in my top quartile, and considering I don't normally read that genre, is good. From the reviews I suspect Magpie will come in higher; I think I've read you write somewhere you thought your second novel better written, which would be natural).

And yeah, I know, it's very anal of me keeping reading (and movie) lists, and worse, a scoring system :(

Addendum: Magpie arrived by courier today (30th December). Hopefully it will lift my spirits a bit after reading Cormac McCarthy's ultra-depressing The Road which I am wading my way through (and making heavy weather of it - dreadful Christmas reading selection that one).

Magpie Hall. Just finished this morning. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Don't really understand why one reviewer said Rosemary was an 'unreliable narrator' as I found her completely credible and she came to face her 'demon' when she was at the right place and we, as readers were too. She wasn't lying to us, just not pressing on that wound...

Tad disappointed that the Henry and Dora story was underminded by Rosemary's comments at the end. The romantic in me would prefer to think that the 'story' was accurate.

I'm pleased to say, I figured pretty early on that Henry would have 'preserved' Dora though the manner in which he did was surprising.

I liked every character - they had redeeming, human qualities right down to Dora's stepmother.

Thank you, Rachel. I hate to say this but it took you such a long time to write and only two days for me to read *grin*

I'm sure you've come across this already, but apparently the in-flight mag on Air New Zealand had a great piece on Magpie Hall - my friend Vanessa from Tete a Tete Vintage said she read it on Christmas Day on the plane. :) Congratulations!

About Me

The Sound of Butterflies was the title of my first novel, published in the UK by Picador, in the US by William Morrow and in New Zealand by Random House, and translated into eight foreign languages. In 2009 my next novel, Magpie Hall, was published in New Zealand by Random House, and in 2012 my first novel for children, Red Rocks. This blog is my thoughts on the world of writing and books.
Photo by Sharon Blance.